Epic Comic Book Miniseries Is Animated for DVD

By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

Published: July 21, 2007

''The New Frontier,'' an epic comic book story that follows Superman and other heroes of the DC Universe from the end of World War II through the cold war, will soon be seen in a new incarnation: a 70-minute animated film.

The saga, which began as a six-issue series in 2004, has been published in one hardcover and two softcover collections and has inspired a line of action figures. Next week those attending the 38th annual Comic-Con International in San Diego will get a preview of ''Justice League: The New Frontier,'' a direct-to-DVD animated film from Warner Home Video due out in February.

''The New Frontier'' would be one of the first three adult-oriented DC projects to be given the straight-to-DVD treatment and will sit alongside similar full-length adventures of Superman and Batman; DVD collections of the animated television series ''Superfriends,'' ''Justice League'' and ''Batman Beyond,'' among others, have been popular with fans. ''I was kind of floored by the call and the fact that this was being done,'' said Darwyn Cooke, 45, the writer and artist behind the comic. The news came from Gregory Noveck, the senior vice president of creative affairs at DC Comics, a unit of Time Warner. The company wanted to produce a series of direct-to-DVD animated films that would, unlike its previous efforts, more closely follow the source material.

For Mr. Cooke, who was a storyboard artist on the WB network's Batman and Superman animated series of the 1990s, working on the film version of ''The New Frontier'' was like coming home. ''Having worked down there in the studio and been involved in similar projects, I couldn't help being excited and moderately terrified,'' he said during a telephone interview. ''Experience in the industry informs you of the millions of ways things can go wrong. All of a sudden, it's your baby.''

One of the biggest challenges was paring down the story from just under 400 pages into a 70-minute film. The comic book version has a sprawling cast and multiple subplots, from a nearly 40-page sequence that depicts the fate of the Losers, a squad of soldiers from DC's war comics, to following Hal Jordan's path from reluctant fighter pilot in Korea to his discovery of the power ring that will turn him into Green Lantern. In between, Wonder Woman and Superman debate their own involvement in Southeast Asia; the Martian Manhunter arrives on Earth; and John Henry rises in Tennessee to combat the Ku Klux Klan.

Mr. Cooke recalled another phone call, this time with Bruce Timm, a producer, writer and director on many of the animated cartoons featuring DC's heroes. ''Bruce said: 'I told them not to make this! This is at least two DVDs!' '' Mr. Cooke said.

Mr. Timm was the co-writer, co-director and producer of ''Superman: Doomsday,'' the animated version of best-selling 1993 comic books about the Man of Steel's demise. (Rest assured, he recovered.) He said ''The New Frontier'' fit with DC's goal of creating more adult-oriented superhero cartoons.

Stan Berkowitz, a writer who worked on ''Justice League'' and other animated series featuring DC characters, was called in to condense the plot. ''He was able to bring it down to length and still keep a through line to the story,'' Mr. Cooke said.

But the process was not without its bumps. In the first three drafts, neither Wonder Woman nor Lois Lane, both significant in the comic, was in the film. ''You have to pick your battles,'' Mr. Cooke said. ''I had to give up a lot of things that would make me weep, not because they need to be in the film but because I wanted to see them animated. But Lois and Wonder Woman had to be in.''

Mr. Cooke worked on the design of all the characters in the film with Glenn Wong, whom he described as ''secretly famous'' because of Mr. Wong's work on DC's line of collectible maquettes (picture a group of Oscar statues, but each one colorfully resembling the animated version of the Justice League characters).

Mr. Cooke said he credits the director, Dave Bullock, who is also a friend, for putting in more of the story than he initially thought possible, even though some characters are only seen in the background and some subplots are relegated to newscasts watched by the heroes. ''It's much more complete than I would have thought,'' Mr. Cooke said. ''Even things we dropped, we reference in scenes. It won't interrupt the story for people who don't know, but for someone who has read the book, it'll hit that trigger and be there for them.''

Photo: Wonder Woman frees imprisoned South Vietnamese women in ''Justice League: The New Frontier,'' a DVD due in February. (Photograph by Warner Home Video).